#msma monthly watch

[meowsaidmayaanime]

2016 Monthly Watches and Top Picks

An amalgamation of links to my personal watches and top picks, that being said there are a lot of anime I have not watched. If there is an anime that you think I should watch, recommend it to me in my Suggestions page or in the respective comments sections of my posts.

NOTE: I do not have any monthly watches or top picks from January to April, because I started this site in May of this year.

Links To My Monthly Watches (New links will be added soon)

My Monthly Top Picks

May Top Pick

Tokyo Ghoul

Only a few minutes before my 21st birthday I finished this series. Which means that I was an emotional wreck crying out ‘he knew!!’ while also being super excited to go out and buy my first drink; a Bloody Mary, approximately 17 minutes after officially being 21. Anyway, Tokyo Ghoul is so good. I loved it because it did not follow the path I expected it to, every event and conclusion ended up surprising me but in a good way! Without spoiling too much or going into a full review, the main character never became a ‘Mary Sue’ and the way it ended was not typical in the least. I have so many things to say but they all contain spoilers, anyway I’m glad I wasn’t deterred from the anime because one of my friends said he didn’t like the manga because of his assumption about the character. Dude, you were way off, I haven’t read the manga, but the anime is so different and so amazing. 5 out of 5 would recommend!

June Top Pick

Blue Exorcist Movie

The movie has nothing to do with the plot of the anime at all, and takes place after the events in the series. Atleast I’m fairly certain it does? There’s an important (and spoiler-y) thing that happens at the end of the series, that is never addressed or acknowledged in the movie which I think is really weird….. Either way, the movie itself is simply a completely stand alone story from the series. And it was absolutely stunning! Sooooo much detail went into all of the backgrounds and items. On top of that its very well scripted, and the plot flowed incredibly well together without being convoluted, which is surprising since a number of movie sequels to tv series’s tend to go overboard by stuffing too much information into an hour and a half.

It was amazing. Its possible that someone could watch the movie without watching the single season anime, just because of how it was written. However you would not know the relationships or the back story of the main character, which helps to explain a lot of the terminology and setting. Especially the part about demons ect ect.

Either way, I LOVED this movie. I didn’t even know that there was a movie at all until just now. I’m going to re-watch it with a friend when she gets back into town and I am soooooo excited because I KNOW she will love it too. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. I RECOMMEND THIS SO HARD.

July Top Pick

Haikyuu!!

I have boarded the sports anime train, and I don't think I'm ever getting off. This is the fifth sports anime I'm watching and I think it may be my favourite. It's funny too because I only recently started watching sports anime when I watched Free! last December.

This anime is fabulous! I know I say that a lot, but it is so true! Haikyuu!! is about Hinata who joins his high school Volley ball team. The rest of the show is about the developing relationships between the team, the development of their characters and skills, and their relationships between the teams they play against as they try to make it to the Nationals.

I love so much about this anime, every character is different, has their own reasons for playing, their own personalities, their own skills, and their own developmental journey. The characters are amazing!! On top of all that the animation is great, they animate the games incredibly well, and whenever someone does something that's particularly fast or strong they do a fabulous job of showing it through the art style and movements. Ah, I could watch this show for days, well, more days than I already have. (Click the image to view the gif, cause for some reason it won't automatically play...)

Look at the smooth animation!!

Speaking of the art style, It's different than whats common in anime, feeling a little more like a manga, but that's what makes it so great. The style allows them to make fabulous faces/expressions and movements. and Oh man the faces are great, I LOVE an anime that's able to use such a variety of expressions on so many different characters. Look at these faces!

Its such a feel good anime, its so light-hearted, and bright, and funny, and intense! There are only two season out right now, but the third season is to air this fall! I'm so excited!! so, So, SO excited!!! AAAHHHHHH~

This is a must watch. It doesn't matter what genre of anime you like, everyone should give this one a chance.

August Top Pick

Hyouka

So the first thing i need to mention is that this show is first and foremost a slcie of life that happens to include a lot of mystery. Not a mystery that happens to be a slice of life. I originally thought it was the latter which was why I was disappointed that it didn't end the series with a mystery arc, but instead the way a slice of life would.When you acknowledge the show for what it really is, a natural slice of life, it is amazing. For numerous reasons.

First the artwork is so incredibly detailed and beautiful. Second the visuals are distinctly different for each thing ti tries to convey, and completely succeeds in doing so. The audio is amazing, the music is beautiful, the animation is so smooth and they even animate things that aren't necessary to the plot but are animated anyway to make it all feel so REAL. Not to mention the episodes and mysteries are so well written!

look at the incredible amount of detail they put into EVERY SINGLE SCENE.

even when the background is blurred even people who we never learn about or see again have details in their clothes, faces, and expressions. I checked, we NEVER see these people below actually interact with the main OR minor cast.

I almost forgot, this show is about Houtarou a high schooler that sees the world in 'gray'and whose motto is "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, I'll make it quick." Convinced by his already graduated sister, he joins the classics club which was endangered to be disbanded because there were no more members. He meets a girl named Eru who also joins the club and discovers that he has a knack for solving mysteries. That is, only when Eru earnestly goes to him and yearns for him to solve the mystery because her curiosity cannot be contained. From there they quickly discover that the classics club has a past shrouded in mystery.

Its incredibly well done, I love slow the pacing myself, because it fits the flow and nature of the anime. However I do have a number of issues with it myself (some reveal content spoilers so I won't state those here).  I admit that the way they ordered large mystery arch and single episode mysteries was not handled well at the very end. Don't get me wrong the ending fit the characters incredibly well and was very good and realistic, however considering the quality of the larger mysteries that were prevalent through the rest of the anime, I feel that they should have ended the series with a multi-episode arc and then one final single episode arc, rather than many single episode arcs strung together.  The anime was an adaptation of a light novel, which covered 4 out of the 5 published novels. I've taken a look at the titles of the chapters and it seems that the 5th book is quite the elaborate story. One I would have liked to have seen in the anime, though would clearly have gone over the 22 episodes the anime ended at. Perhaps since this write up for the episode is already so long, I will create a post just about this anime. It definitely deserves more talking about!

Anyway, I do recommend it to veteran-ed anime watchers. It has a wonderful pace that does not push by quickly, great character development and insight, and fascinating mysteries and dialogue regarding such. Its perfect for anyone who loves natural slice of life. Those who enjoy mysteries would also enjoy this, as long as they understand that it is mostly a slice of life, and thus will follow the format of slice of life and not the format of a mystery anime. Its a stunning anime.

September Top Pick

Natsume's Book of Friends

This is an incredibly adorable show. Its heartwarming and has a 'feel good' movie feel to it. If anything taking into account the art style and how good it makes you feel it reminds me a lot of Fruits Basket. Don't get me wrong, its nothing like Fruits Basket in terms of story, but its got the same 'feel'.... if that makes sense.

Anyway, the premise is that Natsume is the only one able to see yokai (Japanese monsters/spirits/gods). After moving into a new town with some distant relatives, Natsume finds out that is deceased grandmother could also see yokai and made quite the reputation among them. She would take the names of local yokai and put it into a book called the book of friends, with their names she could control the yokai. Now yokai are coming after Natsume either to ask him to return their names or to take the book of friends for themselves.

The majority of the show is about Natsume steadily coming to understand both humans and yokai more clearly than he has before. Making friends, learning about the lives of others, learning about his grandmother, and finding out what it really means to be apart of a family and not be ostracized by others because of his ability.

This show is wonderful, its not as gripping or super emotion/action driven as some other shows are, but its very well done. The character are great, the stories are so heartwarming, and it breaks a number of the stereotypical cliches that are often found with anime about a character who can see something that others cannot. An example that I particularly love is how other characters who come into the mix who are also able to see yokai are not automatically 'evil' or an antagonist. So rather than causing mroe trouble for Natsume from the 'get go' they are actually there to help develop him into a better character. Which I love~ Any actual antagonist that shows up are antagonists for a real reason, rather than just for the purpose of having one.

If your into exorcism anime or anime that focuses on traditional Japanese monsters/spirits/gods you will love this one. It is slower paced and focuses more on story than action so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that there are only 4 season out right now as of this post. Season 5 will be coming out with this falls simulcasts and I'm super excited for it

[meowsaidmayaanime]

What I'm Watching May 2016

Hi! So this post will be consistently updated and feature only completed anime(ie non-simulcast anime, I have a list of simulcasts I am watching already provided). Whenever I update it I will add the date in the title, change the featured photo, and add the anime at the very top of the post~ So yeah, a good way to know what kind of things i'm currently doing.

Attack on Titan Addendum 5/31

So episode 10 actually surprised me, I did not think it would go in that direction. In fact, after that episode the anime got much less predictable, which is great. Don't get me wrong, there were still some moments that were very obvious, but I found myself not knowing what was gonna happen next very often. Especially toward the end, and oh man did it drag me further into the anime. It was great, I really really enjoyed it. And now I can enjoy Attack on Titan Abridged! (the real reason I wanted to watch this, haha)

5/29 Attack on Titan I did it, I finally did it. Its been huge in the anime world for 3 years now, I got tired of seeing it on my netflix and finally started watching Attack on Titan. I JUST finished episode 8, and every single event, aspect, backstory, everything I have successfully predicted. Now I will add that aside from the very first episode, I had no idea what was gonna happen next. I stayed away from spoilers like the plague on this one cause I knew I had to eventually watch it. Despite the fact that it is so far nothing new whatsoever, I'm really liking it so far. Like REALLY enjoying myself and the anime. I stayed away from it for so long because I didn't want to get caught up in the hype and be disappointed, I tell you I'm not disappointed. Though to be fair, I did wait three years after the initial hype and went into it expecting it to not live up to my expectations. I think that was the right decision. Well I still have 17 more episodes to go, and plenty of room for it to surprise (or not surprise) me.

oh and btw, MIKASA'S A BAMF! hot damn, I wish I was Eren, wait, no. I take that back, I do NOT want to be Eren, just in his position. waaaaait, no, no, not that either. Yeah no, I do not want to live in their world. yikes.

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 5/26

Ok so remember when I said I was watching the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? haha of course you do that was only yesterday. Well the episodes have a weird order and were not aired in chronological order (which means I didnt watch it chronologically, i'll make a post of this later) but also that there was a movie that followed the end of the second season and HOLY CRAP THE MOVIE MADE THE FREAKING ANIME. I was not expecting that at all.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5/25 I just started watching The Melancholoy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I started watching it a few years ago but dropped it for whatever reason (lost interest.) It's always been relatively highly ranked (an 8 out of 10 on My Anime List (which if you've been to the site you will know that very few anime get anywhere over 9 out of 10) for example the highest ranked anime is Gintama at 9.3 followed by FMA: Brotherhood at 9.26, even Spirited away is only an 8.9 so anything that's at least an 8 is pretty dang good), so I figured why not give it another chance? Especially since my Akibento for this month came with a lot of stuff from that anime, and I dont want it to go to waste(especially considering I didn't even want this months crate because I wasn't interested in the preview but was charged and sent it anyway despite the fact that I only signed up for a one time crate last month..... If anyone wants any of May's merch just let me know. I think I might be making a post about it soon. hmmmm....)

Strawberry Panic! 5/23

Right now I'm actually re-watching an anime I once watched back when I was in I think middle school, Strawberry Panic! An adorable tale of a girls finding love at their all girls boarding school. I have had this anime in my mind for years, constantly thinking about it but never remembering what on earth it was called, and barely remembering anything else about it for that matter! It's not a fantastic anime by any means, but it is adorable and rather down to earth. There are no super annoying characters or unrealistic situations and events, like what is common in so many school anime (especially the newer ones). That's why I like this so much, its 'soft' romance and school life. Ahhh, I'm so happy to be watching it again. In fact, I am watching episode 12 as I am writing this!!

Noragami 5/21

I just finished watching the second season of Noragami, Noragami Aragoto. While it was very good, the plot, the characters, the writing, it wasn't quite as wonderful as the first season. Aragoto has two story lines that follow one after another, where as the first season focused on one story line, which was just so emotional and exciting and I had such a hard tome pretending I wasn't watching it while work, hahaha..... Don't get me wrong though, this definitely is not an anime that suffered from the second season like some, in fact it provided a lot or origins, backstory, and important character development necessary for the third season!! Which should be on its way, especially considering the huge info drop at the end of Aragoto. If you've seen season one, Aragoto is definitely a must watch~

Tokyo Ghoul 5/16 TOP PICK FOR THIS MONTH

Only a few minutes before my 21st birthday I finished this series. Which means that I was an emotional wreck crying out 'he knew!!' while also being super excited to go out and buy my first drink; a Bloody Mary, approximately 17 minutes after officially being 21. Anyway, Tokyo Ghoul is so good. I loved it because it did not follow the path I expected it to, every event and conclusion ended up surprising me but in a good way! Without spoiling too much or going into a full review, the main character never became a 'Mary Sue' and the way it ended was not typical in the least. I have so many things to say but they all contain spoilers, anyway I'm glad I wasn't deterred from the anime because one of my friends said he didn't like the manga because of his assumption about the character. Dude, you were way off, I haven't read the manga, but the anime is so different and so amazing. 5 out of 5 would recommend!